The Shanghai Stock Exchange has moved one step closer to hosting China’s much-anticipated high-tech board by completing recruitment of staff for the platform, Caixin has learned.

The new employees are expected to start work in mid-March. The recruitment process started last November after President Xi Jinping announced that China will set up a Nasdaq-like high-tech board in Shanghai.

The new board will be a testing ground for major changes in the way the country’s existing stock markets are run, including a registration-based initial public offering (IPO) system.

In preparation for the board’s launch, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has set up three new departments: a board listing review center, a company supervision department and an enterprise training department, said the Exchange in a statement (link in Chinese) on Feb. 22. These new departments will handle the tasks of accepting and reviewing applications, supervising listed companies as well as mergers and acquisitions, and training intermediaries including investment banks.

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